Tangherlini, OMB nominees confirmed

Jun. 28, 2013 - 06:00AM
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The Senate confirmed three Obama administration appointees Thursday to top posts in the General Services Administration and Office of Management and Budget.

By unanimous consent, the Senate approved the nominations of Dan Tangherlini for GSA administrator and Brian Deese to become OMB deputy director for budget. Howard Shelanski won confirmation to lead OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on a voice vote.

Tangherlini has been at GSA since April 2012, when he took over as acting administrator after Martha Johnson resigned in the wake of an uproar over agency conference spending. Obama chose him for the permanent post last month.

As acting chief, Tangherlini “has led an impressive turnaround of GSA and I am confident that he will continue this good work as administrator,” Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who helped shepherd the nomination as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in a news release.

Deese comes to OMB from the National Economic Council, where he had been deputy director. He replaces Heather Higginbottom, who left the budget office in February to take a job at the State Department. Shelanski, an economist by training who also has a law degree, has been head of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics. His confirmation comes 10 months after Cass Sunstein resigned as OIRA administrator to return to teaching at Harvard University.

Still vacant is the job of OMB deputy director for management. Jeff Zients stepped down from that post at the end of April; Obama has not nominated a replacement.